


these sweet instincts (ruin my life)

by BakedBananners



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Blood and Injury, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Canon Compliant, Character(s) of Color, Coming of Age, Demons, Disaster Twins, Donnie is about two seconds from pure anarchy at all times, Donnie's questionable sense of morality, Families of Choice, Feral Behavior, Found Family, Gen, Guns, Hijinks & Shenanigans, I'd tag baronjitsu but its complicated tbh, Illegal Activities, Magic, More characters to come, Mythology - Freeform, No Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Prophetic Dreams, Psychic Abilities, Psychic Bond, Raphael's Mama Bear Instinct, Shapeshifting, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Slice of Life, Spoilers, Team Bonding, Telepathy, To An Extent, Werewolves, Wilderness, april manages to keep her job, author doesn't know shit about new york, author needs to do a lot of research pls be patient, dont @ me peta, give mikey a kitchen and donnie a lab 2k19, leo "whats the deal with airline food" nardo, no beta we die like men, no romantic relationships, on all levels but physical april is a wolf, references to splinter's past love life, support your local library, tcest do NOT interact i swear, vague jabs at the inherent flaws of capitalism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:28:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21699259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakedBananners/pseuds/BakedBananners
Summary: There are wolves in the forest by April O’Neil’s home.At least, that’s what she’s been trying to prove to anyone who will take a chance at listening to her. As the respectable journalist Warren Stone would say, if you want proof, you gotta go get it yourself.She just wasn't really planning on getting four brothers in the process.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & April O'Neil & Raphael (TMNT), Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT), Leonardo & Raphael (TMNT), Michelangelo & April O'Neil (TMNT), past Lou Jitsu/Big Mama
Comments: 17
Kudos: 133





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woot woot this is my first fanfic despite me having this account for 5+ years! The RotTMNT fandom has treated me very kindly, so I mustered up the courage to write something that started as part of my NaNoWriMo. Updates will probably be pretty irregular, but I will post what I've written insofar!
> 
> JSYK the boys and April are aged-up 2 years so:  
> April-18  
> Raph-17  
> Donnie & Leo- 16  
> Mikey- 15
> 
> Please forgive me I don't know shit about the northern states I'm from the south -.-
> 
> Also! A/B/O dynamics in general are totally bunk, and weird, so I'm not really gonna include that stuff! The Mad Dogs' pack dynamics resemble their canon relationships for the most part. Also also, I haven't seen any past iteration beyond like a few eps of 2k12, which is why I'm electing to hold off on putting any past characters in atm. I might bring in Casey? It's pretty TBD.
> 
> Also also also, I have a VERY rough estimation of what the actual plot is gonna be, but it'll sure be something! I'm forseeing that this is gonna get pretty lengthy yippee
> 
> EDIT: title is from Imposter Syndrome by Sydney Gish, superb album, highly recommend

There are wolves in the forest by April O’Neil’s home.

At least, that’s what she’s been trying to prove to anyone who will take a chance at listening to her.

“The only wolves living in New York live in the zoo. It was probably reflection from the streetlights, or someone was taking an early jog.” Her mother told her a few years back, when April woke up early one morning to see bright red eyes peering from the treeline. She told her there’s no way she mistook what she saw; their intensity was unlike anything else. She also knew for a fact that she wasn’t the only one who heard the intermittent howls that pierced the night so rarely. Hell, there were even some reports of sightings, some called them large dogs, some called them cryptids, and some went as far to say _werewolf_.

XxXxXxX

The weather, as with every northeastern state, turned for the worst right on time. The snowstorms were to be expected, but they never got any more pleasant. It didn’t deter the hunters, though, and if anything it bolstered their desire for the rugged chauvinist image that always seems to formulate in the minds of middle-aged men.

April caught glimpses of the occasional passing truck full of men in their camouflage and orange vests, the pickups loaded with tarps and snares and traps and rifle ammo. These cars trawled steadily through the slush-covered streets while April walked home from school. After making the mistake of attempting to ride the bus the first day, she learned the hard way that walking was better, so long as you dressed for it. There has been another flurry the night before, so she put on at least three layers, uncomfortably hot while indoors, but so cozy in the elements. Her waterproof boots allowed her to tread at a steady pace over the salted sidewalks and her mind wandered to the new library books nestled inside her backpack. She would have to find time between her shifts at Al-Bear-To’s and homework to read them, but she could manage. These things had become a routine by yesteryear. At least she was so, so close to graduating.

“I’m _ho-o-o-me_ .” She hollered after opening the apartment’s front door. She looked both left and right before closing and locking it. She didn’t hear response, so her mom was probably at the grocery store, or something. April went to her room so she could start her Physics homework, a packet detailing how vectors work. Being a science-nerd had its perks, and she did find physics and chemistry interesting, but she really felt most comfortable during her computer programming course, despite the little Purple Dragons Club that made everyone who didn’t like coding think everyone who _did_ like coding was annoying and rude, and _no_ April didn’t just think that way because of her falling out with Kendra _thanks brain_.

The packet only took, like, 20 minutes, so April finally dug out her copy of _The Temple of Wolves_ . As she completed chapter one, she wondered what it would be like to travel with a wolf pack, certainly it would be so much better than going to school five days a week to see people you didn’t get along with to get some shitty job for the rest of your life. _So much better_. If only wolves and humans could co-exist better, and so many hunters didn’t drive them to near extinction in the States. April sighed, checked the time, and changed into her pizza parlor uniform before heading out for her shift.

XxXxXxX

When April returned to the apartment, with a much less enthusiastic greeting than earlier that day, she actually had a response. Her mom sat, with the same degree of exhaustion as her daughter, on the sofa watching the nightly news.

“Hey, baby, there’s spaghetti on the stove.” Her mother said in lieu of a proper greeting.

“Thanks, mom.” April said, and before long was sitting next to her mom slurping at a plate of microwaved noodles while the news reporters droned on.

“-say not to leave out trash bags where these animals can easily get to them. While officials have allegedly been keeping an eye out, some residents are worried that these repeated incidents will encourage local hunters to take matters into their own hands.” The newslady read diligently off the teleprompter. B-roll footage of people’s torn trash bags, and interviews with residents played.

“Isn’t it weird for these things to happen in the winter?” Her mother asked flimsily. “If it were a bear, wouldn’t it be hibernating or something? I’ll bet it’s a bunch of coyotes. Everyone just gets this _hunting fever_ this time of year.”

 _Or…_ April wanted to say, but she just stuck another forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.

XxXxXxX

Sometimes, she would leave scraps on her back porch, where civilization fell away to wilderness (or at least a close facsimile of it). Years ago, she learned that it was probably not the best thing to do, as it drew all sorts of pests that were more trouble than they were worth. Plus, feeding animals people-food, mainly scraps of pizza, was just plain unhealthy for any creature, _including_ humans. However, if her theory was correct, they were desperate; this was her chance to finally, _finally_ see the truth.

And so she sat backwards on her couch peering through the blinds at the now-cold spaghetti plopped onto a paper plate, for the slim chance of spotting a wolf. As the clocked ticked, and her eyes burned with a desire for sleep, April contemplated the stupidity of her choice. If anything, she’d get a raccoon, like her mom said. Or a stray cat. Or-

She was about to turn away from the window to relive the strain in her neck when she saw them: those bright, piercing, blood red eyes, followed by a canine face, and a lupine body. _A wolf_.

She gasped secretively, every fiber of her being alert and awake, as if it were a phantom instead of a flesh-and-blood creature. It was _massive_ \- granted she’d only seen them in books and videos- and incredibly fluffy-looking. The wolf’s fur was a deep reddish-umber color, lighter at the feet, chest, and mouth and darker at the head and back. An old scar criss-crossed its left eye and nose bridge, and various others lined its body. The canine crept quietly up to the plate of pasta, ears and nose twitching in anticipation, paws practically gliding along the ground. It was almost comical that such an intimidating predator was attempting to covet some leftovers. April didn’t even think to wonder how it got past the other tenants’ watch dogs, she just watched as this elusive animal gobbled the cold pasta, licking the plate clean. Then it looked up, it looked right at _her_ . They both froze, April didn’t even dare to breathe, just watched how its eyes widened in the universal look of ‘ _oh shit_ ’.

The wolf backed up slowly, before dashing off like a shot, back to wherever it came from. She covered her face to keep herself from screaming out loud, but then she thought, _how did it get past the gate_?

XxXxXxX

_Raph’s back_ , Donnie announced. It was mostly unnecessary, because everyone else could tell when Raphael returned. He just wanted to bring back the subject of food, because he was just about to start gnawing at his own stomach. All the stupid hunters were making it way too hard to find something bigger than a squirrel or rabbit, or a turkey, if they were lucky.

 _Raph’s back!_ Mikey echoed with a bark and ran up to said wolf to lick at his chin, partly because he missed him so much and partly because he, like the rest of them, were desperate for something to eat. Raphael lifted his head and growled to make him stop, and Mikey did, but not without and whine and puppy-dog look.

 _Did you find aaaanything?_ Leo asked, still flopped lazily on his side since before Raph left an hour ago. He had laid there so long, all the snow beneath him had melted in a canid-shaped bed. It wasn’t like the ground was much warmer, the only reason they weren’t in the den was in the hope of good news.

The eldest brother laid down next to him to share warmth. Mikey slinked over to join them in their dogpile. Donnie stayed put, chin atop his forepaws, waiting for Raph’s answer, watching intently for any signs of a lie.

 _No, well, I mean, not really._ The spiky canine admitted, and licked his lips in memory of whatever he tasted, the asshole. _Some girl left out some spaghetti, but I left because she was, like, watching me_. He shuddered slightly, either from the memory, or the cold. Donnie could tell that more snow was soon to come, so he stood and stretched.

 _Whatever, at least we all ate_ something _today_. He yawned and walked back to the den’s entrance. A few fluttering snowflakes signified the beginning of another flurry, and there was no point being caught in that weather any longer than necessary. The rest of the pack squeezed into their underground home behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

Same old morning, same old school, same old job, blah blah blah. April’s life was just so _boring_ , and she hated it. But now, she finally, finally had something better to do than wait to flop onto her bed every night to start the same old routine.

During Calculus, as the teacher droned on and on about derivatives, April doodled her rough estimation of what the wolf looked like last night. She was by no means a professional, but it looked about right. Fluffy, pointed ears, a nick in the left one, sharp eyes that looked almost human, even more so when they conveyed shock. April knew that wolves were smart, smarter than the average German Shepherd, and they were social creatures, so they really were like humans. 

Therefore, if there was one, there was likely to be _more_ , a whole pack of them. And April O’Neil was going to solve this mystery if it was the last thing she did.

After school, she knew she had about two hours until her shift started, and daylight was a scarce resource in the winter, so she had to get her butt moving. She followed along the streets that she always saw hunting trucks use, thankfully the snow last night hadn’t completely buried their tire tracks. It was funny to think that she was tracking hunters, and she smirked to herself. She wasn’t all that concerned about being defenseless in the woods, she doubted there would be much of anything to hurt her, plus there were going to be game hunters all around the place. She had studied wolf behavior for years, so if worse came to worst, she’d just wing it _a la_ Julie-of-the-Wolves. She was confident she could handle it.

XxXxXxX

The forest was a lot bigger when one was actually _in it_ . The trees were a lot taller, too. It wasn’t as big as a National Park forest, but they definitely could have fooled her. April kind of wished she had some best friend that she convinced to come with her at the moment, or a best friend to tell her this idea was _really_ stupid. April was sure that having a map of the place, and the compass app on her phone, would be enough; she was beginning to learn it wasn’t the case. At least her phone still had bars, so she wasn’t in a cheap horror movie just yet.

April trudged through the snow-laden undergrowth, getting a teensy bit bored of the whole ordeal. She could have just left some pizza scraps outside to catch another glimpse, but _no_ , she just had to get impatient and seek the animals out herself. She was in their territory, for God’s sake, what was she thinking? She berated herself as she scanned the ground for tracks, careful to watch out for any snares the game hunters typically hung out on low bushes. She already dodged at least three, and had half a mind to just tear them all down. They were pretty cruel devices, even if people said over and over again that they were _humane_. That was rich, coming from the people who wanted the creatures dead in the first place. 

“Hey, kid!” Someone called out, scaring the absolute shit out of her. She fumbled with her phone for a few seconds.

“Yeah?” She called back, once her heart rate lowered to a pace that didn’t make the organ want to break out of her rib cage. 

“You really shouldn’t be out here, wandering about. Don’t ya know you could get seriously hurt?” The man finally walked up to her, tall and lean and _was that a pompadour_? What was this, the fifties? His grin was as sharp as his gaze, and he was giving her a smarmy look that made April feel like a prey animal.

“Sorry, sir. I was just taking a walk. I was hoping to see a turkey or something.” April tried to explain. Regardless of his intentions, she understood that her little expedition was over. “You’re right, I should head back. My mom’s waiting for me.” She tried not to look as anxious as she felt.

“Now hang on, missy. If ya wanna see one a’ them toms so bad I can show ya the best places.” He looked down at the map in her gloved hand. April noticed his rifle was slung casually over his shoulder, his vest was a bright orange. “But it probably _is_ best that ya go. Us hunters got a job t’ do, and it ain’t a pretty one.”

“Huh?” So he wasn’t planning on… doing anything? _Oh thank God_.

“There’s been talk of _wolves_ around here. No one’s gonna pass up that opportunity. Least of all _me_ .” He smirked, getting a wistful look in his eye. April’s relief was casually crushed and reformed into disgust. The thought of killing those animals, for _trophy hunting_ , contradicted every empathetic and scientific bone in April’s body. “It gets pretty competitive during the _normal_ years, but now that there’s been solid proof, it’s got everyone all riled up. Best not to get in the way of a guy with a mission, and a big gun.” He gloated. “Anyways, you’ll wanna head straight that way,” he pointed behind her, “back t’ town. Straight shot, can’t miss it. And try not to catch yourself in a trap, kid.”

“Alright, well, thanks. Uh, happy hunting and all that.” April called as she walked quickly away from him. Even if he wasn’t some pervert, he still got on April’s nerves, with that shit-eating grin and stupid hair. She stamped the packed snow carelessly beneath her boots, not even bothering to be subtle anymore; she was already caught once. Despite venting her frustrations through her super cold feet, she could help but feel apprehensive about the whole ordeal. These hunters, at least some of them, knew about the wolf- no, definitely _wolves_ , plural- and they wanted them _dead_. Weren’t there, like, rules against hunting wolves? Well, it wouldn’t matter much, since wolves weren’t supposed to be in New York at all. They were supposed to be, like, frolicking in Yellowstone and shit. The biggest canines around here were coyotes, and people were hardly sympathetic to them.

The longer she pondered it, the more hopeless April felt. Maybe the next time she saw the wolf, it would be a bloody corpse on the news. As much as she loved Warren Stone, she wasn’t looking forward to seeing him report something so gruesome. She had to _do_ something, maybe talk to some conservationists, or some animal rights groups, or a sanctuary, or just _anyone_ better qualified than her. She’d already learned the hard way that she was in _way_ over her head with this.

But there were so many hunters, and the forest wasn’t _that big_ , and the wolves were probably weak, and there wouldn’t be enough time. And, and, and.

As the sky faded to the vibrant orange of sunset, April heard the high-pitched cry of pain resonate through the tall, black trees.

XxXxXxX

_Whatever you do, do_ not _move_. Donatello instructed his younger brother.

 _That seems kinda redundant_ , Leo quipped, _I mean, wouldn’t that make him want to move even more_? 

_You are not helping_ . _And you don’t even know what redundant means._

 _Just pointing out the facts of the matter_ , he dismissed as he circled Mikey, sniffing at the wire wrapped snugly around his throat. _Mikey, this necklace is so not your style_.

 _This isn’t funny, you idiot!_ Donnie growled and snapped at him, pushing him away from the obviously distressed Michelangelo. _Go get Raph, or something. He’s probably on his way already, but still._ He inspected the snare. _Seriously, don’t move or it’ll really start to hurt. I’ll probably have to unlock it or something. These things usually have some kind of mechanism, but it’ll take precision, and time. Can you still breathe all right?_

 _Yeah, I am_ so _good._ Mikey replied, trembling with the effort to not thrash around like his hyperactive instincts were telling him to. _Sorry, it just scared the crap out of me_.

 _Hey, we’ve all been in this exact situation. It’s gonna be totally fine_. Leo said before trotting away to find the eldest. His casualness pissed Donnie off, as usual. 

Donnie could tell that his brother was about three seconds from completely spazzing out, so he shifted his focus inward. He hadn’t shifted in weeks, mostly because of the energy it took to do so, but also because it felt weird, and the weather called for having a fur coat. Not to mention Dad… It wouldn’t take all that long, he just had to loosen the device enough for Mikey to slip out of. He could feel the electric, tingling feeling in his bones for a split-second before the sound of snow squeaking underfoot made him freeze. He whipped around at the sound and Mikey jerked his head back, but even that fraction made his noose tighten. Now it was truly digging into his skin. Donatello could smell the sharp scent of blood as it welled up around the wire.

 _Michelangelo, calm down_ . He growled and focused on the approaching figure stumble through the frozen bushes. He tried not to panic just yet. The footfalls sounded light and clumsy. If it was a human who wasn’t a hunter, their help could be useful. _I think it’s a kid_ , he hypothesized, aware but unwilling to acknowledge that he, too, was a kid. _They could help._

Then again, men brought their kids on hunting excursions all the time. That didn’t change much, Donnie was already calculating strategy to disarm them, to maybe sink his teeth into something warm and living that was finally bigger than a squirrel-

 _Donnie, do_ not _leave me here, I swear to the great moon in the sky I will freak out_. Mikey warned, giving him a scandalized and pained look. His pupils were dilated from the whole ordeal.

 _Chill, my dear brother, I’ll be right next to you_. He said, slipping between the foliage. His dark fur didn’t really allow him to blend in with the white surroundings, so he crouched as low as possible beneath the thorny branches. He would wait until they were right in front of Mikey, holding up their rifle and giving him a sympathetic look that really was just a facade. As if they were putting a martyr out of his misery.

 _You know, sometimes you sound exactly like Leo._ Mikey shot back at him. He didn’t have a problem with Leo, but he knew it was an affront to Donatello’s desperate need to be cooler than him.

 _That wounds me deeply, my dear brother_.

 _I know_ , Mikey huffed.

XxXxXxX

April’s blind stumbling through the forest was really giving her no headway to solving her problem. She needed to find the source of that sound, but the trees made everything echo and bounce around, so honestly who knew where the hell she was now. Her eyes darted wildly for some semblance of tracks to follow.Another problem was that hunter that told April to bounce; he most definitely heard what she did, and was also going to the source. She _had_ to get there before him, before something terrible happened.

There! Freshly disrupted snow mixed with dead leaves. Paw prints too big to be a fox or coyote were leading her closer and closer to the epicenter. This area of the woods sprouted bushes whose deadened, thorny limbs clawed at her fluffy winter jacket and pant layers. April did her best to pick her way through, definitely pulling some threads loose in the process. It made sense that someone would set up a snare or two around here, there was so much shit to hang them off of.

It was impossible to miss the super fluffy canine in front of her, its neck fur bunching around its face due to the red-stained snare like a collar on its neck. The wolf was a deep burnt umber, with flecks of a sandier shade speckling its coat, its right forepaw and left back paw looked like they had light socks on. It was obviously younger than the one she saw last night. Its eyes conveyed a look of terror, and yet of some semblance of understanding. Maybe it’d interacted with humans before?

“Heyyy, buddy.” She cooed and lowered herself into a crouch a few feet away. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.” She tried not to make direct eye contact, but the human-made noose around its neck was a pretty grisly sight. She lifted a hand, palm facing upwards, for it to sniff.

The animal stood stock-still, practically frozen, which was odd, right? It was weird for it to not move either back or forward. Right? She inched a bit closer. The wolf sat down and gave a little whine, its eyes darted around briefly before settling back on her, as if to say, _hurry up already_!

“Al-right then?” She got up and walked slowly towards it, hoping it wasn’t going to thrash around or something. “Nice wolfie… Please don’t bite me…”

April first ran her gloved hand over its head, its only reaction was closed eyes and a flick of the ears. When that seemed to go well, she moved her hand to the offending snare, parting the fur gently to get a better view of it. It had cut into the skin, but not too tightly. “You were lucky little guy, this doesn’t seem _too_ bad. Normally these would suffocate you.” She probably just imagined the canine tense up beneath her hand, or maybe the injury was really hurting. She ran her fingers until they found the locking mechanism. April fumbled with it for a few seconds, before getting fed up and removing her gloves. Sure, they had a few blood spots on them, but it was no biggie. She got her fingers around the clasp and _pulled_ -

“Kid, step away from that thing.” 

April froze. It was probably a stupid thing to do, but she turned around to look at him. This time, his rifle was in his hands, facing downwards at the moment, thankfully. 

“I-I-um” The teenager tried to think of something. If she unlocked the snare, and it ran off, the hunter would most definitely shoot the animal. If she didn’t he would probably threaten her to step aside with his _very real gun_ that he _definitely_ knew how to use. She could feel the wolf tremble beneath her fingertips, what if it freaked out and really got itself hurt? What could she say to the guy? “I just saw it got caught and it looked like it was in pain so…” She tried to play dumb, but it probably wasn’t fooling anyone, it sure didn’t look like it.

“Again, kid, I’m a hunter, I caught the thing, now let me put it out of its misery.” And now he had raised the sights to his eye, his index finger expertly resting on the trigger. He made a little waving motion for her to move away. “These puppies are worth a fortune.” The hunter seemed to mutter to himself.

“I… ” April thought of the time kids had forced her to move seats on the bus, of all the times she was glared away from a lunchroom table, all the times someone stole a pencil or eraser or textbook from her desk. Everytime she had to swallow her pride and anger and anxiety, tell herself that they just wanted to intimidate her with the little social power they had. This man had _real_ power, would he hurt her? Kill her? All for the fur coat of an endangered species.

“I can’t let you do that.” April replied. The muscles in her legs were starting to burn, she could feel the cold sweat prickling her neck and torso. Her eyes were fixated completely on the man with the gun. His jaw was set so tightly she could see the muscles bunching. She didn’t have much power herself, but she was _not_ letting this bully get his way.

“You little-” He was cut off by the sharp _crack_ of a branch. “Wha-” He was again cut off by a dark, furry shape leaping out of the bushes. April watched in shock as the new wolf- its pelt was a sleek charcoal- gripped the rifle barrel in its jaws, and tried to force it from the hunter’s hands.

 _Bang_! April screamed, the wolf next to her yelped in surprise and pain as it unwittingly drew the snare tighter still into its flesh. April grabbed fistfulls of fur to still them both. The hunter had fired a single shot in surprise, and she prayed that it didn’t hit anything or anyone. The wolf in front of her wrestled with the human, pushing and pulling, trying to shake his grip loose from the weapon. It was practically swinging the grown man around. Finally with an artful head twist, it dislodged the hunter, knocking him onto the ground. He groaned and rolled to his side, but the predator was faster. It tossed the rifle away and pounced onto the man. April screamed again, absolutely certain she was about to witness a mauling. “Don’t!” She cried.

The wolf paused, its teeth clasped around the man’s throat. The hunter was huffing from adrenaline and fear as the creature loomed over him, a paw placed deftly against his chest. It growled low and menacingly. The wolf next to her whimpered. Everyone sat in a deadlock for what April though was an hour.

The wolf finally extracted itself from the adult. Backing up slowly, it positioned itself in front of April, its compatriot, and the rifle it had flung away, baring its teeth the whole time with fur bristling. The hunter sat up slowly, and April could see the dark red puncture wounds dotting his throat. His greased hair framed his face in a disheveled mess. April had to admit that he wasn’t completely stupid, as he stood up ever so slowly. First to his knees, then to his feet, then he backed away in a crouch, his breath coming through in shallow pants. His confident demeanor had been completely shattered. April felt like she hadn’t breathed the entire time. She could vaguely feel the cold permeating her shoes and legs, the warmth hummed from the canine she clung desperately onto.

Once the hunter was out of sight, and the wolf that saved them had stopped bristling and growling, it turned to face them. Its tail and ears now held in a relaxed posture. April noticed that its left eye was a icy blue, while the right was a warm hazel-brown. It whined and nodded towards its friend.

“Oh, I, oh my God what just happened.” April groaned and tried to get her fingers to stop feeling like jelly. The hot blood was welling up very fast, which wasn’t helping April concentrate _at all_ ; she tried and failed not to get her hands slick with it. The brown wolf whimpered in a hitched and injurious tone. After a few tries that left her fingertips stinging, the clasp thankfully released, and she unraveled it as wide as she could pull it. Immediately the wolf slipped its head back and out, and scampered to the other. April couldn’t help but notice the red speckles staining the disrupted snow. The darker wolf watched her, and licked the human blood from its lips. 

In a burst of ice and leafy debris, _another_ wolf lept into the tiny clearing. This one was a brilliant silver, with unusual wine-red stripes marking its face and body. It glanced between human and canine quickly, and its bright cerulean eyes looked _way_ too human. Distantly, April recalled that it was almost impossible for a wolf’s eyes to be blue.

April wanted to say something, but she felt dumbfounded as she looked at the animals before her. She went from seeing zero, to seeing _four_ in less than a day. She wondered where that fourth one- or rather, first one- was. She also noticed how the injured one cowered behind the others, panting quietly from pain. The others stood protectively, alertly, in front of their friend. Before she could think of something to say, they all ran off, back into the wilderness they called home.

XxXxXxX

_Holy_ shit _, Dee, I can’t believe you_ did _that_! Mikey panted as they made their way back to the den. 

_Whatever, you can thank me later, when we’re all not an inch from getting shot or something_. Donnie did his best to mask how he preened from the compliment. It was too bad Leo didn’t see it, because he would never fully believe his or Mikey’s story no matter how many times they recited it.

 _I can’t believe I missed all the action._ Leo bemoaned. _I didn’t find Raph, and I heard all the commotion, so I ran back_.

 _What the hell, you guys!_ The wolf in question lept out to join them on the trail. 

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear_. 

They were finally at the entrance to the burrow, and Mikey immediately laid on his stomach, huffing. Blood had coated his neck in a deep red ring, running in rivulets down his chest and dripping onto the forest floor. Raphael whined and sniffed at the wound while Leonardo paced nervously around the two. Donnie crawled into the den, and focused inward once more. Splinter laid snoozing on a worn quilt; Donnie was glad their dad didn’t see this, he might actually have a heart attack, and then they’re be dealing with _two_ medical emergencies. He felt his form rearrange uncomfortably, becoming human. He hastily threw on whatever clothes he could grab from the miscellaneous pile they all picked from. A sweatshirt and sweatpants would work fine, and he pulled on his pair of leather boots. He picked up a flimsy old backpack, as well. He reemerged outside with their diminished first-aid kid, already knowing for a fact that there wasn’t enough gauze for this. 

His brothers sat around him and watched as he wound the roll round and round Mikey’s neck. They watched as it quickly soaked through. 

“Goddammit.” Donatello growled and stood up. _That’ll work for a little bit. I’m gonna run into town and get some supplies for this_ . In other words, he was going to sneak into the _Stock & Shop _ to steal stuff. Sure he could use his human mouth to say it, but projecting with his mind was much easier in this dire situation, and no one needed to be told that they were broke. 

_Normally, I’d say stealing is bad and stuff, but yeah_. Raphael agreed, still worriedly eyeing the reddened bandages.

 _I’m so glad you’re willing to forfeit your moral code for this one_. Leo snarked, because his snarkiness level was directly proportional to how stressed he was.

_Anyways, I’ll be back in, like, twenty. Don’t you dare pass out Michelangelo._

_Wasn’t really planning on it_. His brother groaned.

While the trail was old, familiar, and reliable, despite the hindering layers of fresh snow, Donnie still thought it best to take his time skirting around that hunter and the girl. He hated that it would take longer, but he couldn’t risk being seen by either of them. He wondered if he should go back for that hunter’s rifle, because one can never have too many guns, or knives, or needles. Leo may call him macabre ( _you don’t know what that_ means _, Nardo_ ) sometimes, but Donnie liked to consider himself practical. He wasn’t some savage. So what if he reveled just a bit at having that man’s throat in his jaws? It wasn’t like he was actually going to kill him. First of all, it would be more trouble in the long run than it was worth, and secondly, they all promised Splinter to not hurt humans a long time ago. Plus he could become human, so it was technically murder, right? Did tasting human blood make him a cannibal? Now that was fucked up.

Donnie was glad to finally be out of the trees, if only to metaphorically escape the downward spiral of his thoughts. Now he could focus on the very important task at hand. 

Once his breathing had evened out, he ran his hand through his close-cropped hair, and entered the store. As far as grocery stores went, it was pretty massive; it was pretty ingenious, from a business perspective. Making it astronomically huge ran out all the local competition. Donnie took note of all the CCTV cameras’ positions, granted his eyesight wasn’t the greatest out of the four brothers. He wondered if there would be a day when he could get a proper prescription. Hell, he just wanted a damn phone, and an actual computer. He could only fiddle with Raph’s Rubix cube, and his scant collection of books and journals, so many times before he chewed off his own tail.

Since he could hardly read the overhead signs pointing him in various directions, he just tried to follow his nose. The scents and sights and sounds that bombarded him from every direction almost made him bolt right back home. Donnie hadn’t been around this amount of humans in at least a few months, and he was starting to regret not trying to… _socialize_ more.

He tried to radiate _completely-normal-human-doing-normal-and-legal-human-things_ vibes as he marched to the pharmaceutical aisle. The overwhelming scent of hydrogen peroxide and fruit gummy vitamins made his stomach flip, and the harsh fluorescent lighting was starting to burn his retinas. Thankfully, this area was only monitored by a middle-aged lady perusing various brands of skin creams. Donatello shuffled over to the boxes of gauze strips and shoved a few into his hoodie, not wanting to risk alerting anyone by slipping the backpack from his shoulders. They still had needles and thread for emergency stitches, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, and some antibiotics from Splinter-only-knew-when. He swiped a tube of Neosporin just in case. After going into the bathroom to discreetly dump everything into the backpack, he chanced grabbing a box of granola bars before bouncing.

Donnie knew that him leaving without buying anything was weird, but he also prayed that the cashier didn’t give enough of a fuck to say anything. With luck, he’d just be seen as an odd character and wouldn’t have to come back until they forgot all about him and the CCTV footage was either abandoned or deleted. Regardless, he didn’t spare a glance behind him.

XxXxXxX

_So would anyone care to fill me in? Was that a freaking gunshot I heard earlier?_ Raphael interrogated his brothers as they all sat waiting for Donnie to get back. 

_Mikey ran into one of those snares the hunters stick on bushes_. Leo probably didn’t mean to sound so accusatory, but both him and Donnie had a habit of having an incredibly snarky default setting.

 _It’s not like I_ wanted _to get my head cut off!_ Mikey defended, trying not to shiver from the blood loss. It was making his neck feel hot and the rest of him feel really cold. _Donnie was gonna take it off before some girl came by to help. But before she could take it off some hunter came over with a gun and tried to make her leave._ Now Leo was watching him with the same intensity as Raph. Damn, his neck was hurting like a bitch, he wanted to just lay down already.

_Uhh, and then the girl said she wasn’t gonna leave, which was super cool ‘cuz that guy was super scary. Then Donnie jumped out and pulled the gun out of his hands. It was awesome._

_Sounds fake, pics or it didn’t happen_. Leo scoffed.

 _Omigosh, I should totally draw what happened. It’ll look so cool, I promise_.

 _So what did that girl look like, she didn’t tell you her name did she?_ For that, Leonardo gave his older brother a nonplussed look. Mikey was more than happy to focus on something other than the sharp stinging pain that made it hurt to breathe.

_Dark skin, curly hair in two buns. She had, like, these pointy red glasses and-_

He was cut off as Raphael hopped up and barked, _Oh! I know her!_

 _Wow, small world._ Leo quipped before turning to look at where Donnie left. He was always better at figuring out where Donnie was and what he was doing than the rest of them.

Said brother stumbled through the bushes with a huff, shaking some leaves from his clothes. He made a beeline for Mikey, and the other brothers gave him some room to work. 

“Mikey, this’ll work a lot easier if you lose the fur.” Donnie told him, dumping everything from the backpack. Leo pounced on the box of granola bars, and Donnie didn’t stop him from chomping into it like a chew toy. Raphael went into the den, presumably to get Mikey something to wear once he shifted. 

The discomfort of doing so was on a pretty low rung of Mikey’s concerns at the moment, and the matter already seemed settled between his family, so he did so. The rearranging of his form made all his nerves burn, and he whined when it amplified the burning and rawness of his throat. Donnie removed the loosened, bloody scraps of gauze he placed earlier and inspected the injury more thoroughly. He sighed before grabbing some snow to ice the inflamed flesh. Mikey yelped at the temperature.

“Press some more onto it and hold it there.” Donnie didn’t have to explain that it would numb the area and close the opened blood vessels, they’d already gone over this a million times before. Leo continued to rip through the cardboard and spit it out, he crinkled the plastic wrapper of a bar in his teeth. “Leo, it would work a lot better if you had opposable thumbs.” Donatello suggested, which Leo completely ignored, his entire focus on chewing through the plastic like an animal.

Raphael crawled out of their home, having shifted himself, and handed Mikey some old pants, which fell into his lap as his hands were occupied with clumps of melting snow. “I wanna wait for Donnie to stop the bleeding ‘til I give you a shirt.” He explained. That was fair, because it’s not like they had much of anything to spare.

After a few moments of silence, punctuated only by Leo’s gleeful shredding of plastic and granola, Mikey moved his hands to let Donnie get to work winding gauze around his throat. _On the bright side, I bet it’ll be a wicked scar_ , he boasted. He didn’t want to use his mouth because it would’ve interrupted his brother’s work, and his throat still hurt like hell.

“Hell yeah, Mikey, rack ‘em up while you can.” Raph cheered in a moment of weakness, before regaining his eldest brother senses. “I mean, don’t be getting into trouble n’ stuff on purpose.”

 _Smooth, Raphael, like sandpaper._ Leo paused in his munching to watch Donnie apply first aid.

“This is just to stop the bleeding. As you already know, I’ll have to put on Neosporin later.” Donnie told him before tucking the end of gauze into another fold. By now, the blood wasn’t soaking straight through the bandage, but it still created a red ring around his neck. Mikey could feel the muscles twinge, like he slept with his head twisted 180 degrees.

Leo strolled up to the trio leisurely, which he always did when he wanted to fuck with them. _Can I offer you a granola bar in these trying times_? He inquired, dropping a saliva-covered wrapper on Donnie’s hunched shoulders. His twin shot up with an indignant squawk, wacking the offending snack off him and shoving Leo hard. As the two chased each other around the small clearing, Mikey slipped the raggedy long sleeve on, relieved to have something to moderately protect him from the cold. 

Raphael pulled his long, shaggy hair from his face and went to pick up the decimated remains of the box Leo tore through. “You should really take a few Ibu, bro.” He instructed the youngest, picking up the individual bars that Leonardo had spared them. In the short period that their attention was away from them, Donnie had shifted and was wrestling Leo to the ground. It wasn’t much of a fight on either side, given the scant amount of energy the four of them mostly invested in finding something to eat. Speaking of…

Mikey yanked a bar from Raph’s hand. _Youuu got it, bro._ He replied, chomping into the crunchy granola while walking back to the den.

XxXxXxX

When April finally got home and took a breather on their living room sofa, she couldn’t think of anything to do besides put her head in her hands. She almost got _shot_ today… and all that blood… Good Lord, this was not how she thought today would go. It seemed like before today, her life was just a boring montage of random events. Time mostly spent online researching stuff only she cared about, reading books, getting good grades, getting yelled at during her shifts, and so on. Was she going into shock or something? April sat up and took a deep breath, then another, before shaking out her arms and standing up.

“This isn’t the time to sit around, April!” She told herself sternly, and marched to her room. She had a minimum-wage job to get too, and a few emails to send.

XxXxXxX

When she returned from the pizza parlor, smelling and feeling like she was caked in layers of grease and sweat, she could hardly muster a greeting to her mom. The woman reclined on the couch seemed to be in a similar situation. April kicked the front door closed and locked it, her hands occupied by a pizza box. Her manager often let the employees take leftover pizza home, especially after particularly slow shifts like the one that night. April didn’t know if it was violating some company policy, but she didn’t really care.

“You want some?” April tiredly offered her mother. She gave a non-committal grunt, her eyes half-closed and unfocused, gazing in the rough direction of the TV displaying _Wheel of Fortune_. The teenager sighed, set the grease-stained box on the countertop, and dragged her feet to her own room. 

After a desperately-needed shower, April sat herself in front of her computer in an oversized t-shirt and flannel pants, the tight curls of her hair let down from their typical dual-bun style to dry in their natural state. As she scrolled through Google searches for wolf sanctuaries, her mind drifted to the occurrence earlier. Part of her thought it happened weeks ago, and part of her felt like it hadn’t happened at all. April wondered if she’d ever have the misfortune of running into that hunter again, and what he would do if he saw her. Well, it’s not like he could point her out and say that she’d, what, tried to free a threatened species from a possibly-not-entirely-legal snare? He totally wouldn’t try to shoot her or anything, right? Right.

The teen then started pondering the wolves themselves. They all looked so distinct, yet acted like a cohesive pack, and the way they looked right at her without flinching. That black one had definitely saved her life though, she’d have to leave out that entire leftover pizza, if any of them ever came around again.

April clicked the most reputable-seeming link with a ‘.org’ URL, some wolf conservation place. The founder, a ‘Todd Capybara’ (which April would bet was 100% fake), was a pale, blond curly-haired man with a round face, bushy mustache, and prominent front teeth. Apparently he ran a doggy daycare-slash-shelter on the side called _Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue_ , which was either the purest or sketchiest thing April had ever heard of. The bio he put on the site listed his various credentials in animal behavior, volunteer work, et cetera, et cetera. It was good enough for her.

She found his contact email and typed something out along the lines of ‘ _you really need to come see this_ ’ (leaving out the being-held-at-gunpoint bit for obvious reasons) before collapsing onto her bed and sinking into her dreams.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugghguooaogh i just finished all my finals yesterday and got home today so i apologize if this isn't completely proofread because i am SO sleepy. goodnite folx

Michelangelo couldn’t sleep.

It was mostly due to the stinging, itchy pain knotted around his throat, and the fact that Donnie told him to stay human until the injury closed. He wanted to be able to curl up next to Raphael like he usually did, but now- despite his short stature- he was all bony joints.

Appearing human did have its advantages, though, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary; he couldn’t run as fast, or use his senses as well, but he could hold colored pencils and spray paint cans, and sometimes he talked to people. Usually they were the ones sat huddled by old buildings that were prime real estate for the graffiti artist. They would smoke or drink, while Mikey pulled a bandanna against his face to protect his delicate nose from the paint fumes and nicotine. Often, those people would just watch Mikey work in silence, unlike his brothers, who always pestered him about his spiral notebooks full of doodles and the occasional line of poetry. Thinking about that prompted Mikey to untangle himself from his brothers and father, he _was_ starting to sweat from the close proximity- another con to not having fur.

The den they made was basically one large space, divided only by the activities one did and where. Mikey rifled through his stash of personal belongings to find his notebook, a blanket, some clothes, a watercolor painting set, a few random writing utensils, and so on. A few weeks prior, before they’d so recently run out of cash, Mikey remembered browsing the seemingly-infinite aisles of the local _Stock & Shop _with Raph and yearning for a set of fancy Copic markers. He’d been able to sell some of his art on the street for a pretty penny, but then he ran out of spray paint to work with.

Mikey leaned against the rounded ‘wall’ of their home, and sat curled in a blanket with pencil and paper. He began a sketch of the girl’s face from earlier that day, her curious and determined expression was what Mikey kept remembering. While he knew Donnie was there to protect him, it was comforting to know a human would risk her life like that.

Raph said he knew her, maybe Mikey could stop by to thank her? No, that would be definitely weird, and confusing, and no way would Raphael let him go. His brother could easily tuck him under his arm, and had proven it on innumerable occasions. He continued sketching Donnie pouncing on the older hunter. When Mikey had first really gotten the hang of drawing his family, before they’d looked in actual mirrors, they praised Mikey to no end. It made him smile when he recalled the way their dad would stare at his art for hours, days, weeks, years, keeping all his old work in a fraying binder. Pops never wanted to waste a single thing, no matter how many times Mikey wanted to throw it into a river in a fit of frenzied artistic embarrassment.

Michelangelo’s thoughts circled back to his oldest brother, to the girl, to the town he hadn’t been to in what felt like forever, and his hand paused. He could always just go by himself, he didn’t even need to ask Raph about it, because he could trust his nose to lead him anywhere. Mikey glanced at the sleeping forms at the other side of the den. They didn’t need to know, and if he came back with food then it was likely no one would care much about any potential hijinks.

As discreetly as possible, he slipped on his sneakers and walked out into the night.

XxXxXxX

The town was really pretty in the dark. Well, “pretty’ was probably the wrong adjective, but the way snowflakes were illuminated by the stark glow of the streetlights was really something to behold. It was too bad the man-made glare eliminated the chance for a clear view of the stars. The wide open plains of Wyoming were unrivaled in that aspect. Mikey really liked looking at and learning about all the constellations with Donnie at the library- a place they went to often before the weather turned to crap and a brief dip in their dad’s health made them all paranoid. While Mikey doodled and studied anatomy, Donnie would pour over history and science and math and computer programming. He even confided in Mikey that he wanted to go to college, a thing they all knew was nigh impossible unless they won the lottery. Mikey thought his brother was teaching himself just fine. Donnie kept all his notebooks full of annotations and theories and formulas in a neat stack that was strictly off-limits from everyone, and he’d recently taken to burying his nose in them when there was nothing better to do- which was often nowadays.

The weak snow flurry kept flinging ice into his unruly hair, and the tips of his nose and ears ached from the cold. Occasionally a car would lumber slowly past him as he walked past block after block. The weather seemed to dampen everything, but the acrid scent of gasoline was starting to make his head hurt. When Mikey tried to cough, it made his throat ache even more. He didn’t fully understand why he came into the sprawling suburb, or why he wanted to see that girl again so badly, but there was this feeling in his gut that seemed to be leading him back to her. It was the same pull he felt when the moon was full and radiant in the sky, though not quite as strong. It felt like fate, or destiny, or something, and Mikey wasn’t one to deny his instincts.

Despite his diminished senses, he could still follow the trail of pizza grease, scented shampoo, and cotton. It was a strange combination, for sure. How much pizza did one have to be exposed to for that to happen?

After walking down seemingly-abandoned sidewalks for a good 15 minutes, Mikey stopped in front of the entrance to an apartment complex. Beyond the entrance sat dozens of cars in a small lot, surrounded by three-story buildings. The entire place was blanketed in white, with only some recent tire-tracks to reveal that it wasn’t completely dormant. 

Mikey figured it probably wouldn’t be smart to go snooping around the place looking like a homeless teenager. Also, the more he thought about it, it was weird to try and figure out where that girl lived, right? Yes, it was. He got enough information from this little escapade. He wished he had a couple bucks to get something from that convenience store he passed a while back before going home, though.

Mikey was about to turn to leave when a chill ran up his spine, like the cold had sunk right into his bones, making his hair stand on end. It felt like some inhuman presence was pressing against him, like eyes were watching him. He shook his head somewhat frantically as the feeling persisted; he was _definitely_ being watched, but from where?

There, on top of one of the car roofs sat an animal with glowing eyes. The distance made Mikey think it was a cat, and yet… _not_ . Maybe its ears were too pointy, or its nose too up-turned, its tail too bushy, its coat too unnaturally colorful, _something_ . Plus, it was staring _right at him_ , its eyes so bright and yellow that they looked like twin streetlamps in the gloom. Its gaze wasn’t exactly menacing, just so overwhelmingly intense that it made Mikey want to bolt with his tail tucked.

Instead, he decided to give a nervous wave and grin.

The dog-cat-thingy tilted its head to the side, and when Mikey blinked, it was gone.

It wasn’t the worst introduction he’d made.

XxXxXxX

When April woke up Friday morning, she was expecting just another day, another week marked off the calendar until the day she graduated.

She did _not_ expect to be confronted by this bizarre stranger as she left her apartment.

“So what’s your favorite color? Is it yellow? I’m guessing you’re a _yellow_ kind of person.” The kid rambled a half-step behind her, unaware that this wasn’t the typical pace she walked at. His curly, unkempt hair sprang every which way from his head, and the clothes he wore all looked like hand-me-downs. April thought he was either homeless, or from a home that wasn’t much of one, in any case. When she thought about that, she cursed her empathetic instincts as they slowed the speed at which her legs pumped her to school. 

“Yeah, totally, how’d you figure?” She asked, putting on a weary smile. She’d volunteered with kids before, and tutored freshmen who just graduated middle-school. This probably wouldn’t be much different, save for the fact that the average high-schooler- regardless of grade- wasn’t so… _sunny_.

“Well, you _are_ wearing a yellow hat, and a yellow scarf, and a yellow backpack, _sooo_ …” He teased, grinning sharply. April noticed he had a gap in his teeth that braces could easily fix.

“Eh, I’m not one for blending in, yanno?” She shrugged, and the kid nodded slightly in agreement.

“Totes.”

Their shoes crunched asynchronously on the salt they typically threw on every concrete surface in the early morning. Despite the lack of current precipitation, the sky still held great gray clouds that painted over its clear and vibrant blue. The residential streets were pretty desolate at this time of day, so April wasn’t too paranoid that someone would overhear her conversation.

“So what’s _your_ favorite color?” April shot back.

The boy stared at her with a surprised, innocent expression, that quickly scrunched up in mental agony. “Aaagh, how can I choose _just one_? That’s unfair!” He huffed an exasperated sigh and pinched his eyebrows in deep thought. When he turned away from her, April noticed- a bit late- that there was gauze wrapped firmly around his throat. While she didn’t ask him about it, she was thoroughly intrigued at how someone could get an injury like that. Or maybe it was just some weird new fashion trend? Kids these days…

“Pumpkin.” The kid finally decided, turning back to her with complete seriousness.

“That’s pretty specific. You mean orange?”

“Not _just_ orange!” He said with mock-outrage. “It’s the very specific hue of a pumpkin, _not_ to be confused with the color of fall leaves. They have very subtle differences in saturation.”

“Right. My bad.” April laughed.

“My name’s Mikey, by the way.” He mentioned after a brief period of comfortable silence. “Well, it’s Michelangelo, but that’s a mouthful.” He shrugged.

“April.” She responded. “O’Neil. That’s a pretty unique name.”

“I’m a pretty unique person.” He grinned. April noticed his eyes were bright and golden, which contrasted his naturally tan, freckled complexion. 

“So did you just _happen_ to meet me in front of my apartment complex?” She asked as they approached a nondescript intersection, gaining a bit of confidence after their conversation. His eyes widened and he was completely still for a second as he tried to formulate an answer. 

“Um, well, I, uh…” Mikey elaborated, waving his hands randomly. “I… have an explanation. But then _that_ would require an explanation, which would also require an explanation, so…” He sighed and put a palm against the side of his bandaged neck. “Look, I’m not trying to be creepy or anything. I’m not some pickpocket or junkie or anything.”

April scrutinized him for a bit longer, watching him fidget. She hadn’t realized the sign had turned to “walk”, and now it was counting down from 10 across the street. The kid wouldn’t meet her eyes, giving the ground a “kicked-puppy” look, and she sighed heavily with her hands on her hips. She turned to look at the surrounding houses, and noted that they were within view of her high school.

“Do you go to school?” She questioned. 9.

“... No.” He begrudgingly answered. 8.

“You live with any family?” 7.

“Yeah, ‘course.” 6.

“You have a phone, or something?” She asked. “An email?” 5.

“Uhhh, yeah, sure.” Mikey quirked his eyebrow in confusion. 4.

“Great.” April took out a black Sharpie. “Give me your hand.” Which he did without question. 3. “I gotta be honest, I don’t fully know why I’m giving you this, but whatever.” She explained while scribbling her email address and number on his palm, and stuffed the marker back into her bag. 2. When she looked up, he was giving her another puppy-dog look, holding his palm up in reverence. 1.

“ _Omigosh_ , awesome!” He gushed. “I’ve never had a friend before! I mean, my brothers are great and all, but this is awesome!” He puffed out his chest and gave her a salute. “ April Middle Name O’Neil, I swear to the great moon in the sky that you will not regret this.”

April couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Well, I sure hope I don’t, either.”

XxXxXxX

_Everyone_ knew that Leo needed his beauty sleep. Well, it was more like Leo constantly _told_ everyone so, at least on a weekly basis. Therefore, when Raph practically shoved him awake, he predictably grumbled:

_Raphael, I don’t maintain my good looks on less than eight hours._

His older brother huffed and growled at him. It barely made Leo’s ear twitch. Raph’s intimidation tactics had a very low success rate.

_Mikey’s gone, Leo, we gotta go find him_.

Leonardo finally uncurled himself and stretched, jabbing into Donnie’s ribcage with his hindpaw. Said brother also growled at him half-heartedly, as immobile as a rock. Splinter was also, predictably, snoring. _What even time is it right now._

_Time for you to get up and help me find Mikey._ Which translated to: _I don’t know_.

Leo finally shifted into a more upright position on his stomach; the low ceiling of their den made standing more uncomfortable than it was worth putting up with. Raph was staring at him impatiently as Leo tried to wake up completely.

Once they both exited the warmth of their home, the wintery chill made Leo want to crawl right back inside. Sure his fur helped and all, but that didn’t make the snow and ice any more appealing. It was still fairly dark out, and the forest was just faintly lit by the newborn glow of dawn. Raphael immediately began sniffing around, sticking his nose to the dirt and foliage. Leonardo shook himself one last time before following his lead. He didn’t make it far before he stopped and lifted his head from the frozen ground. 

_Uh, Raph_. He said, and inclined his head to the blatant trail of human shoeprints in the snow. Thankfully, Raphael wasn’t as prone to embarrassment as Donnie, because he just bounded over to his younger brother.

_Nice work, Leo!_ He praised enthusiastically. 

_It’s what I do best_. Leo preened.

They both inspected the shoeprints for a few moments before the striped wolf said, _It looks like they go into town_ . To which Raph bared his teeth in frustration and nervousness, and Leo _did_ pull his ears back this time. They both knew what kind of trouble Mikey could, and would, get himself into without supervision.

XxXxXxX

Mikey _knew_ he ought to go back home, he _knew_ that Raph was a huge worrywart, probably doubly so in light of recent events, and he _knew_ that Dad always warned him not to bother with humans too much.

Yet here he was at the library again, of all places. The two receptionists definitely looked up at him in recognition, but thankfully didn’t go out of their way to talk to him. Mikey’s self-appointed mission was to set up an email so he could talk to April, not to catch up on gossip. As he booted up the old public PC, he wondered what his brothers would say when they found out he was doing this. If they found out. After filling in the arbitrary registration questions, Mikey typed out a short email to the address inscribed on his hand before logging out like Donnie taught him, recalling all his obsessive warnings about identity theft and privacy and being “off the grid”. He gave a bright smile and wave to the receptionists and left as inconspicuously as he came.

Mikey decided her wasn’t in that much of a rush. It _was_ only around 8:30, and none of his family were prone to rising early, besides Raph once in a blue moon. That was a potential problem that Mikey decided to let future-him worry about. For now, he just wanted to see what he’d been missing out on around town. Hell, maybe he could even sneak his way into a concert or something. The longer he stayed, the more he realized just how much he relished it. What he told April wasn’t a lie, he really didn’t have any _friends_ outside his family. Sure he’d strike up a conversation with the librarian when he got bored as Donnie studied, or with some kids loitering around the _Stock & Shop _ when Raph went shopping, but it wasn’t the same. Speaking of…

“Yo, it’s the great Michelangelo himself!” A kid, Sami was his name, called out to him from the outside of a convenience store, causing a few other heads to turn. Mikey grinned and raised a hand in greeting. “Whatcha been up to, man?” Sami asked once Mikey approached.

“Nothin’ much, dude. What about you guys?” He asked the ragtag group. He tried to recall everyone’s names from before. There was a bigger guy- Joshua?- and a girl with deep red hair- Annabel? She blew out a stream of cotton-candy-scented smoke and watched him coolly.

“What’s up with your neck, bro?” She asked, cutting off whatever reply Sami was formulating. Her compatriots suddenly zeroed-in on the gauze that Mikey had forgotten about.

“Huh? Oh! I… was… playing some dumb game with Leo and cut up my neck, no biggie.” He tried to answer nonchalantly, getting three disbelieving looks in return. “It’s gonna leave an awesome scar, though.” He declared proudly.

“Oh! Speaking of!” Sami shouted, completely derailing the conversation, “I kinda told my older brother that you’re, like, a _master_ street artist n’ shit and he was hoping you’d, like, draw him a cool tattoo.” That gave Mikey a bright idea.

“Well, I’m absolutely _flattered_ ,” he enthused, taking a page from Leo’s book of schmoozing, “you think so. I can totes do that. On one condition.”

“What’s that?” Sami’s face scrunched in confusion.

“I’m kinda really broke right now, so I can mock something up for a pretty penny.” Mikey offered, pinching his fingers dramatically in front of him. Annabel smirked as she watched the exchange, taking another drag from her juul. 

“Ergh… How much we talkin’?”

“What was he wanting?”

“A wicked-ass tiger, dude, on his back, like, crouching n’ shit. He wanted it to cover up this pretty bad scar from a motor crash a while back.”

Mikey nodded, already imagining how sick it would be, and was mentally kicking himself for not bringing his sketchbook with him. “Hmmm, yeah, yeah. Fifty bucks.”

“Damn, dude, you ain’t cheap.”

“I ain’t rich, either.”

Sami laughed, then sighed. “I mean, it’s _his_ money, not mine. I showed him some of your graffitti, and he liked it, so I’m sure he’ll say yes. It’s not like he’s spending his cash on anything better.” He leaned fully against the store’s side, hands tucked into the pockets of his bomber jacket. Josh excused himself to go into the store. “Oh shit, by the way, your thing on 32nd and Madison got painted over.” 

“ _WHAT?_ ” Mikey screeched, that was one of his best works! He spent a lot of time on the deer skull… “Who did it!?”

“It was the cops. Rolled right over it.” Annabel replied. “I salvaged some pics, though.” She held up the cracked screen of her smartphone. 

“You’re a lifesaver!” He sighed in relief. “In your darkest hour, I swear to protect you.” Annabel laughed outright at that. It was really kind of her to do. Maybe not on par with being willing to take a _bullet_ for him, but it was up there.

“Oh yeah, guys, I got an email now! So send ‘em over. Also just tell me if your bro says yeah or nah, dude.” Mikey enthused.

“Wow, you’re only, like, fifteen, but you’re already acting like a Boomer.” Annabel lamented. Josh’s return was announced with a bell chime from the store’s entrance. He rummaged around in his recently-acquired plastic bag before pulling out a bag of gummy worms and handing it to Mikey.

“Uh, thanks?” He questioned, readily accepting the snack.

“You said you were broke.” Josh explained before ripping open his own bag of barbecue chips. Sami darted his hand to nab a few. The aroma of whatever chemical dry rub they used in the processing plants made his Mikey’s mouth water. Annabel asked for his email, and he gave it, and Sami also typed it into his phone leisurely. They all stood around silently for a minute or two, and Mikey diligently tore into the chewy candy he was gifted. It was a lot better than raw rabbit, for sure, and the canine part of his brain wanted to treat them like a chew toy.

“Hey, you seen any big stray dogs lately?” Sami asked, and Mikey tried not to choke on the candy. “There’ve been reports all over the news, and I just thought that since you, ya know… Well, I thought you’d be the first to know.”

“Rude, Sam.” Annabel reprimanded, but her eyes were also full of curiosity.

“Well, I-”

“This hunter guy went on the local news and said he was _attacked_ n’ shit!” Sami interjected. _Oh damn_ , Mikey thought. The ache in his throat was making itself painfully noticeable as he worried a gummy worm between his teeth. He swallowed thickly. 

“Nah, man. Unless you mean one of the scrawny ones.” Mikey put a hand to the side of his neck like a nervous tic. “Anyways, I’ll see you guys around?” Mikey told them, giving some finger-guns for good measure, which was kind of difficult to do with a bag of gummy worms in one hand. “And thanks again, bro.” He told directly to Josh, who just nodded in reply. He tried not to lose his composure as he walked around the corner, out of site of the three other teens. 

This was Bad. With a capital-B. There were probably animal control officers looking everywhere for him and his brothers now. Worse still, that hunter was probably doubly determined to catch them, and kill them, and _skin them_. Mikey couldn’t help but shudder, completely disregarding the yellow pair of eyes watching him from a roof top.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on making this chapter THIS Mikey-centric but I realized that I like writing him and I like talking about art stuff. I can't tell if I'm just projecting everything onto him, but I like to think he's actually very capable being on his own despite one or two minor mishaps that caused his bros to lose faith in him because... that's just being the youngest sibling babey. Like I messed up making mashed potatoes ONCE and now I never hear the end of it :/ 
> 
> I want to write more about Donnie taking him to the library because I think it's so sweet and something he'd totally do. Better than going to the junkyard and getting tetanus or smthn amirite. Donnie doesn't get many opportunities to be the supportive big bro and he really enjoys spending time just with Mikey lol.
> 
> Also I really didn't mean to become so emotionally invested in Sami, Josh, and Annabel, but I started writing them and was like oh god oh shit... new characters... they'll probably be recurrent but not too big of a deal, so dw abt it fam.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LMAO the last A/N makes it seems like I hibernated for like 8 months then woke up to click "post chapter" lololol. ANYWAYS, I apologize for the unintended hiatus, I had this half-written for a while but 2020 is just! a time we are all having isn't it! I also started a few other fics for different fandoms that I may or may not finish any time soon... I'm writing chapter five right now, and I will make an attempt to finish it before the fall semester begins, but I can't promise anything. 
> 
> ALSO, I wanna thank every person who has commented, kudoed, bookmarked, or even just decided to read this fic! Yes, I've read every comment. I wasn't expecting this to get more than like 100 hits but! wow! Y'all have all encouraged me to keep writing this even as my writer's block wanted me to stop. Therefore, this fanfic is brought to you in part by viewers like you. *mwah*

Of all his brothers, Leonardo shifted the least frequently. Obviously, it wasn’t like he _never_ did, it was just that being able to run faster and have better senses were just overwhelming pros. Plus, he didn’t feel so fucking _itchy_ all the time, a thing he contemplated as he raked dull fingernails over his forearm with irritation. Well, he’d had fleas before, but this was different; it was like he was prickly all over due to the lack of a fur coat. His entire being resisted the change.

Leonardo dutifully followed his older brother as they trekked through the woods in human form. Raphael, he noticed while having a clear view of his broad back, always walked with purpose, with great strides towards whatever he’d set his mind on. Leo, on the other hand…

Tripped. Again. He let out something resembling a yelp, or a shout, before falling into a melting snowbank. 

_You good_? Raph had turned back to watch him get his bearings.

 _Yes, I’m_ perfectly _fine_. He snapped, cursing his sibling for making him tag along. He shot up, dripping with slush, and walked a bit jankly to the robust statue of his older brother. 

It was too fucking early for this bullshit. Mikey was probably off having, you know, _fun_ for once, and yet Raph was acting like it was the end of the world. If _Mikey_ had asked Leo to tag along with him, that would be a completely different story, but Raph was trying to be all _responsible_ and shit, and it was really killing Leo’s whole _chillaxed_ vibe. 

Said brother kept giving him concerned glances as they walked together, but didn’t say anything, for which Leo was grateful. He knew that in this kind of mood, he’d probably say something he’d regret once he was in a more lucid state of mind. At this point in time, however, he was just trying to remember how to put each foot forward properly. Being bipedal sucked, why the hell did humans choose to do that.

Leo didn’t really look up from his feet until they reached genuine human civilization. The acrid scent of gasoline evidenced that pretty blatantly. He put a sleeve up to his nose and tried not to gag, instead focusing on the familiar scent of home ingrained so thoroughly into the threads of his clothes. Leo watched Raph hesitate for just a split-second- something he would vehemently deny if ever accused of doing so- before marching headlong into the hustle and bustle of humans. Refusing to be left behind after coming _this_ far, Leonardo trailed after, and if he had a vice-grip on Raph’s sleeve then neither of them mentioned it.

XxXxXxX

Raphael was tense. Leo could tell at least that much just by looking at him, and the way his frame more closely resembled a boulder with legs as they shuffled along the salted streets. He was trying not to let it get to him, but after Raph startled at a car motor roaring to life for the _fifteenth time_ , Leo felt it proper to say _something_.

“Raph, buddy, I’m pretty sure even the humans can smell your fear by now,” the younger sibling quipped, still maintaining a firm hold of his brother’s sleeve as they weaved through the sidewalks. To any other being more well-versed in human society, the streets would be sparse, almost desolate, but to the two teenagers it set both of them on edge. “Do you even know where you’re going?”

“I’m, uh, following my instincts, _Leo_ ,” Raph said, eyes scanning buildings and people and street signs at an almost frantic pace. 

“So I’ll take that as a no.”

“I _got_ this. Have a little faith in Raph,” Said teen stated, making an effort to puff out his chest. Despite his overwhelmingly intimidating physical nature, Leo- and everyone else in their family- realized fairly early that Raphael had this deep-seated habit of becoming as skittish as a kitten around people. That was probably why he had Leo tag along, now that he thought about it. 

Leo was more interested in all the shops they were passing by- a hair salon, a shoe store, an antique shop, a hole-in-the-wall pizza place, and so on- than trying to track wherever Mikey ran off to. Leo didn’t tag along with his brothers very often whenever they got bored of the woods, so his curiosity was piqued with every new sight. He was also aware of some of the bemused stares he and his brother were getting from the occasional human, and one particularly crotchety-looking stray cat. He paused in front of a shop that boasted a variety of magic crystals and occult memorabilia.

 _Is this, like, a completely normal kind of place to have in a town?_ He pondered, half to himself. He tilted his head at an angle, which didn’t help him read the strange symbols on the window, but they all looked the same to him no matter the degree.

 _It’s a tourist trap,_ Raph replied, still turning his head this way and that.

Leo looked out onto the gray, slushy roads and bland buildings. _Do tourists even come here?_

Raphael turned around to give him a weary glare. _Leo, focus._

Leonardo knew he was pawing at the line. _Alright, alright_ . He sighed and tried to use his weaker human senses to track the youngest of their pack. After a few seconds of getting fuck-all, he just pointed where his intuition was guiding him. At least _that_ sense didn’t let him down. Plus he was getting bored of following Raphael’s lead, even if he was the one who dragged him into this situation. _That way_.

XxXxXxX

As it turned out, ‘that way’ quickly revealed that even his most reliable sense wasn’t one hundred percent accurate at all times. Donnie would probably spout some lame nerd knowledge about probabilities or something else equally unhelpful.

Simply put, Leonardo had gotten them both lost in the concrete jungle. 

“I can’t believe you… I knew I shoulda brought Donnie...” Raphael muttered as they leaned against a brick wall in a nondescript alleyway, watching as humans productively milled about during the early morning hours. Dawn was beginning to bring natural light to the streets. To his left, Leo hunched his shoulders a bit higher, jutting out his lower lip defiantly. Why on earth did he think Leonardo would be helpful in this scenario? He spent almost all of his time chasing rabbits and birds, and his own tail on occasion, while Donnie was the one always having Mikey tag along with him in town. Donnie was smart, he thought things through instead of ‘going with the flow’, even if most of his ramblings flew right over Raphael’s head. 

Raph sighed roughly and pinched the bridge of his nose, purposefully not looking at Leonardo. He shouldn’t be upset with Leo, he was just doing the best with what little experience he had. “Sorry, Leo, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have made you come with me,” he amendedt. Leo just vaguely hummed to show his acceptance of the apology.

Raphael took another calming breath and closed his eyes. He was pretty shit at planning things out, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Compared to strategizing how to properly take down an elk, how hard could this possibly be? He had walked these streets on both two and four legs before. It’s not like things could just magically rearrange themselves in the time since then. “Okay, if I were Mikey, where would I go?”

To question such an embodiment of chaos and spontaneity led them to a mental deadend not dissimilar to the physical one the brothers stood before presently. Leonardo, always wanting to prove his competence, ventured to guess.

“The library?”

XxXxXxX

Mikey’s meager bag of fruit-flavored snacks was quickly depleted as he worriedly pondered the implications of all the news and rumors apparently being spread around town. Part of him wanted to give up his escapade and return to the comfort of home, consequences be damned, but another, equally determined part of him wanted to wring out every last drop of fun and freedom before having to face said consequences. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Well, there was no use just sitting around, as he presently was on the curb of April’s school’s parking lot. He wished he could have hung out with the girl more before she had to leave. Beyond her infinite helpfulness from the day before, she seemed smart and cool and mature in ways that his family was, frankly put, lacking. No offense to his brothers.

Mikey sighed and leaned back onto the palms of his hands, stretching his legs out in front of him. He looked up to the greyish-blue sky, now highlighted with pastel pinks and yellows as the sun began to rise higher. At least the sky was a constant; no matter where his family moved, it was the same sun and moon above them. Mikey tilted his head further backwards to get an upside-down view of the huge school building behind him. What kind of stuff went on in there, and why did they make it so big?

Just as a half-baked, and ill-advised, plan was formulating in his brain, he felt that familiar jolt that made his hair stand on end. Mikey jumped up and looked around for a pair of eerie yellow eyes.

Lo-and-behold, there was that same mysterious cat-dog-thing he had seen at April’s apartment complex. It had huddled itself beneath a nice-looking SUV, completely motionless and fixated on Mikey, like an anglerfish under a traffic cone: completely out of place.

“Hi, again.” The boy waved at it.

It blinked.

Seeing this as a signal to continue- or rather to not stop doing his thing- Mikey held up the now-empty bag of gummy worms. “I’d offer you some, but…” He trailed off lamely.

The creature blinked again, before looking left and right as though it were crossing a heavily-trafficked intersection. Mikey snickered a bit to himself; it reminded him of when Raph first taught him to look both ways before just letting Mikey piggy-back ride him around town. As the small animal slinked out from underneath the car it had taken brief shelter in, it revealed itself to be even more bizarre up close. Mikey couldn’t tell if it had paws or hands, or some hybridization like a raccoon. Were those fangs, or tusks? It’s triangular ears seemed simultaneously feline and bat-like. Weirdest of all was it’s coloring: unnaturally bright orange, with vibrant blue and red markings. 

It was the coolest, and cutest, thing Mikey had ever seen.

“Aww that’s right, c’mere, buddy!” Mikey whispered excitedly, making little grabby-motions with his hands to substitute for all the hopping and play-bowing he’d be doing in his other form.

Just as the creature got close enough for Mikey to notice that it had a collar with a luminescent green vial attached to it, a voice called out from the school’s entrance.

“Hey, it’s first period! Get back to class!” A tall woman barked out.

At this interruption, both their heads snapped to attention, and in the split second Mikey had removed his eyes from the creature, it had vanished. The only thing left behind was the scent of something sharp and bitter, which stung his nose and already-irritated throat. Maybe it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but Mikey was positive he saw something shimmer and spark in his peripheral for a moment. 

After her stern exclamation, the older woman had promptly retreated into the building, most likely following her own advice to join her students in the classroom. After such an anticlimactic event, Mikey only felt it apt to follow the flow of adventure. He had a feeling he’d see that little creature again soon, plus there’d be no way to mistake such a unique scent for anything else, if he ever felt like tracking it down himself. He stood, tossing the empty plastic package he was holding into the rusty metal trash can near the high school’s entrance, and pushed through the building’s doors.

XxXxXxX

“Excuse me, sir, but could you tell us where the library is?” Leo asked a random passerby. “Love the hat, by the way,” he tacked on, sparing a glance to the camo-patterned bucket hat the old man was confidently wearing. It was very easy to get humans to do what you wanted with simple surface-level compliments like that. However, Leo really _was_ enraptured by the fact he would actively choose such a bold fashion statement. It even had a few fish hooks piercing the brim, entwined with colorful squishy lures. 

After a hearty dose of bemused staring at the unusual teenagers accosting him on his morning stroll, the man acquiesced to Leo’s inquiry. This was probably, at least partially, due to the way Leonardo looked in his human form, though Mikey rather chalked it up to Leo’s _aura_ or whatever. Like those bright artificial lures adorning the man’s hat, Leo attracted attention whether he wanted to or not.

He spared a glance to their reflections in an antique store’s shop window, having already tuned the man out, and was greeted with his own bright, piercing eyes and patchy complexion. He stared a few seconds more for vanity’s sake, and observed the mirror image of the man converse with his brother. Leo noted with amusement how his brother was separated vertically by at least five or six inches from the two of them, and it made him smile wryly that the man had instinctively turned to speak with Raphael instead of him. Even humans inherently understood that his older brother was leagues more responsible than him.

With their next destination set, Leonardo followed Raph, now slightly lighter with that tiny confidence boost. He wasn’t even clinging to Raph’s sleeve anymore. He’d grown so much in such a short period of time, he amazed even himself. They passed many other shops, crossed parking lots, and were tempted by the sweet, sweet smells of garbage fast food. At some point it all blurred together in Leo’s mind into a crude conglomeration of his interpretation of humanity: cluttered, cold, and exceedingly greasy.

Until they passed by a particularly mud-caked white truck, that is. The scent of turkey feathers and blood, coupled with coyote fur, made them both snap to attention in the instinctual habit of the hunt. It made the hair on the back of his neck prickle, and he hardly noticed himself approach the human vehicle. 

_Leo,_ his brother’s voice commanded with a ringing clarity. He stopped and turned to give Raph an exasperated stare. 

_It’s free_ , he rationalized.

 _Leave it_ , Raphael glared. It was his go-to phrase whenever he saw his younger brothers about to do something very stupid. Like jump into poison ivy, or eat roadkill, or a plentitude of other things they’d come to regret in the long-run. 

What Leonardo really wanted to do in that moment, what he had been waiting to do, was shift from his bipedal form and slip back into the familiarity of his paws and fangs and fur. He wanted to crunch one of those limp birds by the neck and retreat to his home, eat his fill, and sleep for the next two days. However, with his last shred of congeniality, he crushed the urge- _for now_ \- and returned to his brother’s side. With Leo back on track, Raphael’s gaze softened.

 _Hey, wait a sec_ , Leo paused to catch the scent again, confirming his suspicions. _This must belong to that hunter guy from yesterday_.

 _You think so_? Raph questioned. He moved to inspect the truck from the front, to which Leo rolled his eyes. 

_Positive. Anyways, didn’t we have somewhere to be_? He folded his arms and gave his big brother a taste of Disapproving Stare. Even if Raph were paying attention to him, it probably wouldn’t do much.

 _Hang on for a hot second. I wanna remember what this smells like._ In addition to that, Raphael also took a good, long look at the license plate. He also noticed the tacky bobbing toy Hawaiian girl on the dashboard, presently standing at attention for her next luau on the road. The car itself was stationed in front of a convenience store, and Raph deduced that the hunter was inside, probably ordering some coffee or paying for gas. 

Raphael set his jaw, and took a deep breath. Inhaling the scent of cheap cigarette smoke, beer, and animal blood. He gave a sharp decisive nod. _Alright, let’s go_ , he turned to continue their journey to the library. Although he had gotten into quite a few of them, Raphael knew how to pick his battles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leo, probably: Once I max out my charisma stat it's OVER for you bitches


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi welcome to the new ACTUAL chapter. I actually finished it in the time i said i would! 
> 
> and here's your friendly reminder to keep pressuring the shit out of Nick and Netflix if you want more actual seasons RotTMNT lol
> 
> feedback@nick.com <\- ;)

Mikey didn’t so much  _ sneak _ into the building as he did stroll in with what ought to have been an unnerving amount of bravado. However, when he passed the middle-aged woman working at the front desk, she just looked at him tiredly, shrugged and went back to filling out the NYT’s daily crossword puzzle. Obviously, kids belonged in schools, she knew that. She was currently failing, to her great personal misfortune, to find what six letters belonged in 14 down.

Michelangelo had never been inside a school before. It smelled like floor wax and chicken nuggets- a fact fascinated him. Mikey paused in the empty hall to take in the atmosphere, inhaling the school-smell. He grinned to himself and decided to first check out the library, a place that was probably less teeming with students and/or teachers. 

This turned out to be true. Were there not a librarian sitting as a lone sentinel, it would be utterly abandoned. Mikey thought this was a shame, since Donnie would have quite literally killed someone for access to such knowledge. Though as he weaved his way through the tall columns of literature, it was becoming abundantly clear that it was actually mostly young adult fiction: dystopian action-adventures and supernatural romances and so on. His eye caught sight of a plethora of Jupiter Jim comics, too, which he filed away for potential later use.  _ They even had a copy of Issue #327, holy cow _ . He spared exploring the second floor- a concept that baffled him, considering the public library only had stairs going  _ downwards _ , not upwards.

After the library, he maneuvered his way to a dark and empty room, lit by around thirty computer monitors, all stationed in neat rows of five per table. At the end of this procession was a whiteboard spanning the length of the wall, with a projector jutting from the ceiling. Once he was completely certain no one was around, he allowed himself entry. The teen was incredibly tempted to doodle something on the whiteboard, just because he could, but he abstained for the moment. Instead he tapped a few keys on one of the keyboards, just to see what would happen. The computer requested a username and password; things he didn’t have. Damn. 

Sparing another glance around the room, he noticed a few machines that  _ weren’t _ computers, like a stack of metal sheets(?) with wires sticking out of them, and a pen attached to each, and a big box of glass with a bit stuck to the top. Not knowing what else to do, he tapped the glass as if it were a fish bowl. Yup, it was definitely glass, alright. Inside, there was a small plastic figure of a rudimentary house: four walls and a triangle roof. Having examined the computer room fully, he turned to leave. However, just before exiting, he finally caved and attempted a doodle of that cool dog-thing he kept seeing, alternating between the black, blue, and red markers. However, he did take the artistic liberty of making the eyes a bit bigger to enhance the cuteness factor. It was part of his  _ style _ . He capped the dry-erase marker, gave a decisive nod to himself, and continued his wandering.

XxXxXxX

First period saw April O’Neil trying to keep her head from rolling from her upturned palm onto her note-littered desk, or worse, the cold tile floor. In a feeble attempt at keeping herself awake, April tried to stoke up some irritation at the fact that they always seemed to schedule the most boring classes between first and fourth period. Her school deemed AP English Literature an apt punishment for her and the other unfortunate souls in her class, apparently. 

Her exhaustion won over, though, and her eyelids dropped closed for the umpteenth time while the teacher droned on about the complex themes in  _ Hamlet _ . 

Within her mind, April was pulled along the wire of her thoughts, untangled and unfettered. The line wrapped snug around a throat. The eyes clear, bright, unclouded. Someone gazing into her eyes, her soul. 

She had seen those golden eyes before, hadn’t she?

“ _ This above all: to thine own self be true, _

_ And it must follow, as the night the day, _

_ Thou canst not then be false to any man. _ ”

April saw the events of her recent past replay back to her, her subconscious insisting desperately that something was there,  _ she was missing something _ .

She was jolted awake by a not-so-friendly poke to her shoulder, shifting to an upright position in the blink of an eye with an undignified “ _ huh!? _ ” Her unfocused eyes darted to her unamused literature teacher, a man who always looked as tired teaching as she felt while learning. A few snickers from her classmates worked to sober her up with a wave of public humiliation. April felt heat burn her face, and took a few deep breaths to reorient herself from whatever she’d been dreaming about just a few seconds prior. She was glad she took off her jacket before class started, because it felt like the room had gone up a few degrees.

“What do you think Polonius meant by that, April?” Her teacher inquired dryly.

“Um,” she articulated, “where was that?” The senior rifled through her meagerly-annotated copy of the Shakespearean classic that had been sitting unopened on her cluttered desk. She tried not to feel the dozens of pairs of eyes glaring at her while she struggled, and tried to block out the whispering, with little success- there it was! Thank the Lord for colored sticky tabs.

“I think he means- he meant that, um, Laertes shouldn’t lie to himself,” April took another deep breath, finally getting a firm grip on the precipice she was dangling from, “or to other people, because that would make him a hypocrite.”

Her teacher nodded, but then inquired without relenting, “So why do you think Shakespeare had Polonius talk about all this?”

_ Fuck if I know, man _ , is what she wanted to say. Right then, April was putting more effort into not having her dreaming train of thought slip away from her grasp, with little success. “Because Polonius is being a hypocrite, too, or something? It sounds dumb coming from him.”

This must have been the right answer, because her teacher’s eyes filled with a glimmer of something akin to hope for the future generation. April was just glad he'd decided to finally take the spotlight off of her. She immediately tuned out the rest of his lecture, instead refocusing on her prior daydream.

_ To thine own self be true… _ April twirled her mechanical pencil between her fingers mindlessly. For some reason, those words nagged at her.

XxXxXxX

  
  


Maybe Raphael had felt bolstered by his brother’s presence with him, maybe he was already in a poor mood with Mikey who-knows-where, maybe it was simply his curiosity getting the better of him. He could have found any number of ways to justify his actions, but that didn’t change the fact he had willingly put himself, and Leo, in this situation. Here he was, scanning rows of trail mix and beef jerky, ears perked as three hunters chatted amongst themselves next to the convenience store’s one and only coffee machine. In that moment, Raph was more irritated that they’d chosen to station themselves there with little regard to if anyone else wanted coffee without being accosted by loud, intimidating men. He knew from experience to mind his size and stature around others.

“I’m just going to check it out. I’m not gonna start anything,” he had told Leo before entering the store. “You can wait out here if you want.” Raph knew that closed spaces made Leo antsy, plus he was more worried that  _ Leo _ would try to start some shit. 

“Whatever you say,” Leo waved him off, choosing to lean against the store’s side and a ways away from the hunter’s mud-streaked truck. He ran his hand through slightly-tangled hair before shoving them into the pockets of his worn zip-up hoodie. As a human, his hair just passed his chin, bangs framing his face. Usually he’d pull it back, but since Leo had no means to at the time, he just let it fall messily. It really added to his portrait of  _ Teenager Who Just Woke Up _ .

Raphael was shaken from his thoughts as the hunters’ volume suddenly increased. One man was laughing loudly, roughly smacking the guy with the pompadour on the upper arm. The combination of one man’s thick glove and the other’s weather-resistant coat practically annulled the sound. It unfortunately made the men’s voices all-too-easy to discern. 

“Good on you, man! To think one of us got a spot on the local news,” he guffawed. From what Raphael could tell, the man sure liked his camo gear; his beanie, jacket, and cargo pants were all matching. He had a wide smile that was encompassed by a ginger goatee. The man’s laughter died down as he paused to sip at his coffee. Raphael hoped, very pettily, that maybe he’d burn his tongue.

Pompadour Man laughed and took a deep swig of his own coffee before speaking. “The sooner everyone knows about ‘em, the sooner we can get rid of ‘em. They sure ain’t doin’ any favors around here,” he smirks to himself with an overabundance of smug cockiness. “Besides, they’d look better on my wall anyways.”

On one hand, Raphael really wanted to know what the hell the guy was blabbering about, but on the other, the hunter’s delightful boasting was making his insides twist. The fact someone could take such pleasure in killing anything was enough to make him physically ill. 

As his father taught him, killing was an act of necessity. It wasn’t  _ fun _ . Raphael would never even entertain the thought of taking a life for a reason as stupid as mere entertainment. He certainly wouldn’t decorate his living space with such mementos, either.

He took a deep, calming breath, and unclenched his fists where he had shoved them in the front pocket of his sweatshirt. Raphael inhaled the scent of sharp lemon-scented cleaner, bitter coffee, and plastic. It was definitely a combination strong enough to ground him. He continued listening to the men converse.

“You sure they weren’t just a bunch of coyotes? Or some stray mutts?” The insofar silent one questioned. He leaned generously against the unsanitized counter, just millimeters away from pressing his shoulder into the button labeled “pour”. Oh to witness that.

So they were talking about his family? It must have been about whatever happened yesterday. His brothers did their best to fill him in, but Raph was still kicking himself over not being there. He hated when important things happened without him.

“Nah, no way. They were big sons-of-bitches.” Pompadour Man put a hand up to his throat, and Raph finally notices the tiny pinpricks of red there. Raph was pretty surprised that’s the worst Donnie did to him. Donatello was usually one to aim for precision, rather than brute strength, and when he struck he rarely missed the mark.

Not that he wanted Donnie to meet it this time, necessarily. It just seemed like in doing so, the human grew even more hellbent on vengeance.

Damn, this was getting too complicated. Raph extracted a hand and rubbed at the side of his head to ease the building headache. It wasn’t just stress, the fact that his connection to his youngest brother, and Dad and Donnie, was being pulled so thin wasn’t helping either.

“But seriously, how has no one done anything about them by now? You’d think animal control would be scouring the place by now,” Goatee Man pondered.

“Well, nobody’s  _ actually _ seen any wolves. ‘Til me, that is. I’m just confirming what everyone’s already been thinkin’.”

“Well, listen,” and here Goatee Man’s raucous voice quieted, though Raph had no issue eavesdropping, “I got some reliable traps- bear traps, wire traps, you name it- I could use. I say we load the place before any concerned parent calls the ASPCA, put ‘em down, and take these fuckers to a taxidermist.”

Now Raphael had heard enough, maybe far more than enough. His blood was boiling, but he didn’t know if it was more from anger or fear. Unfortunately, he had to march past the detestable group to leave the store. As he brushed against Goatee Man with a muttered “excuse me” escaping his throat like a growl, he locked eyes with  _ him _ \- the human truly fixated on hurting his family- for less than a moment. Raphael knew his eyes broadcasted something menacing and hateful, face tense and teeth clenched. The man opened his mouth, but the words seemed to catch in his throat, and he snapped his jaw closed again. The quietest of the group, in an attempt to lean away from the scowling teenager, pressed against the coffee machine. Raphael took great satisfaction in watching him flail as the scalding liquid stained the shoulder of his jacket, and he bared his teeth in something caught between a grin and a grimace. The three men were probably glaring daggers at his back, but he couldn’t care less.

When he exited the store, however, he was just left feeling more anxious than before. The freezing air was good for cooling his head, at least. When he turned to his right to catch Leo’s attention, he saw the teen waving at a girl he hadn’t noticed was there before. Leo smiled sharply before turning to Raphael with a questioning look. There must have been something worrying in his expression, because Leo just tilted his head and waited patiently for Raph to explain himself. He was pretty shit at hiding his feelings, least of all from Leonardo.

Raphael shook his head,  _ I’ll tell you later _ .

Leo nodded. “Well, I have some truly  _ marvelous _ news, brother,” he barked. “My helpful compatriot here has given me some invaluable directions as to the whereabouts of you-know-who.” He was really getting full of bravado now.

“Oh, thank God.” Raph sighed and followed after Leonardo, slumping with released tension. He’d deal with one problem at a time.

XxXxXxX

  
  


Not much earlier, Leo leaned against the store’s wall, positioned close to the window, but with an optimal view of all those inside. Typically, he utilized his spatial awareness when navigating through trees and shrubbery, but his heightened cognizance of his surroundings now was just making him even more claustrophobic. He rubbed his arm though the thin material of his hoodie. The stench of gasoline was making him nauseous.

There was another scent, underlying it, that made him equally repulsed: overly sweet candy with a sharp chemical aftertaste. However, when he focused hard enough he could catch something familiar,  _ Mikey _ . Leo pushed off the wall and breathed deeply, closing his eyes. Yes, definitely, his nose wasn’t playing tricks on him. He opened them again and moved his gaze away from the bland parking lot to the girl perched on the thick metal rail of a bumper blocker that jutted out of the storefront’s sidewalk. She was puffing out swirling clouds of the stuff, easily dwarfing the natural puffs Leo exhaled, and the few buzzing exhausts of idle cars. Her quietude made it easy for her to blend in with her gray surroundings.

“‘Scuse me,” Leo leaned a bit into her line of sight, still keeping a distance from her personal vape cloud. “Hi, I was wondering if you’d seen a kid about yea high pass by here? Fluffy hair, gold eyes, looks like a troublemaker?” Leo gesticulated his points a bit for emphasis. The girl just stared at him for a few seconds, examining his hair and face and general attire before focusing on some point next to his head. She let the smoke stream out of her mouth before responding.

“Who, Mikey?”

“Yup, that would be him. My rascal of a brother.”

She smirked at that and turned to face him fully. “Yeah, he came here, like, thirty minutes ago. He dipped pretty fast, though,” she paused for a moment. “You don’t really look alike, though. Just the eyes, really,” the girl stated with hesitance.

“I get that a lot, you know!” Leo laughed, smiling brightly. Not even he and Donnie really resembled each other, really. Leo leaned forward, still grinning. It had taken lots of training to make his face not fall into the natural bare-teeth canine snarl it was inclined to, but now he prided himself on being able to do it with practiced ease. “Do you know where he went?”

The girl shifted uncomfortably, leaning back. She looked down and turned the juul around in her hands. “Did something happen with him yesterday? He just looked kinda banged up, so…”

“Oh, yeah,” Leo waved dismissively, “he’s fine, no biggie.” The first step to lying was to put yourself in a position to not need to at all. He didn’t owe her any information. As if it would be simple to explain, or that she’d believe it anyways.

“Uh-huh…” She didn’t look very convinced, but let it go regardless. “When he left, he made a right from here, that’s all I know.”

Leo thought for a bit, humming inquisitively. He looked out to the street, then turned back to the girl. She took another inhale from her juul as the silence stretched on. “That would be towards the high school, right?”

“Guess so,” she sighed. It seemed she was done offering her service to him.

“Okay,” he turned away, waving, “th-” 

He was cut off by Raph forcefully pushing the store’s door open. It chimed happily; a perfect juxtaposition to Raphael’s blatant seething. His brother huffed and gave him a pinched expression. The way his lip curled made his snaggletooth even more prominent. Leo just tilted his head and waited, Raph was never one to hold things in, but this time he just waved it off.

Well, lucky for him, Leo just found the solution to one of his problems.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer i actually liked reading hamlet as a senior kjhlskjfh im sorry


End file.
